She is a war veteran with the U.S. Army, Purple Heart
recipient, paralympian, paratriathlete and an above the knee amputee. In 2004,
Melissa Stockwell lost her leg when a roadside bomb exploded during a convoy. A
diver in high school, she began to swim at Walter Reed Hospital as part of her
physical therapy. Eventually, she trained to compete in the 2008 Paralympic
Games for the U.S. team in which she became the record holder for the 100 meter
butterfly and the 100 meter freestyle. She gained national attention when she
became the face of the Hartford U.S. Paralympics Partnership ad campaign. “I
can really do anything I want to do, missing leg or not,” she says.
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